South Africa GDP Tracker points to slowdown at start of year

Attention in South Africa has been focused on the impact of US monetary policy, but evidence that the economy has slowed sharply seems to have slipped under the radar. Our GDP Tracker suggests that growth weakened to less than 2% q/q (saar), down from 4% at the end of last year. This supports our view that the pick-up in growth seen in Q4 2014 was a blip rather than a lasting acceleration, and that Africa’s most advanced economy will continue to struggle in 2015.